Every Minute
by LydiaLuvsPretzels
Summary: Piper Swan is back. She's been on the run with her vampire cousin and best friend that she thought was dead and her werewolf soulmate for nineteen months. In that time, they have found no way of defeating Red-Eyes. And Piper is done running. It is time to solve this problem once and for all and get her life back.


**_Disclaimer:_** _ **I do not own any of the characters except mine! All rights for them go to Stephanie.**_

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The ceiling was spinning in circles above my head, making me dizzy. Of course, I'm pretty sure that at this point, it wasn't the ceiling that was spinning. When the first wave of lightheadedness began to creep in, I'd stopped spinning in my desk chair, but the ceiling was still spinning above me. I'm sure Jake - and Bella too, probably, next time she got back - would chastise me for doing this to myself but it was the only way to stop me from spontaneously combusting due to boredom. And a serious case of writer's block.

After about two months on the run from a certain red-eyed monster that had stalked me for what we think is my whole life - I won't even get into that with you right now - I had decided that I might as well chronicle my adventures. I changed the names, of course, and a few other characteristics about the world around me, but other than that, everything was mostly the same. It was a really good outlet for my frustration at being away from my mother and my home for a whopping nineteen months. Yup, you heard right, I, Piper Riley Swan, have been on the run for over a year and a half with my soulmate, Jacob Black, which I will also get into later, my best friend who I thought was dead and who let me believe that for a year, and my cousin who is a year older than I am, kind of.

Now, here's the part that gets a little whacky. A bit weird. A tiny fraction of strange.

My boyfriend, Jake, is a werewolf. My best friend, Simon, is a vampire and so is my cousin Bella. I've come to accept this, and the fact that Simon and Bella need to go out at least twice a month and hunt animals and drink their blood to survive. Jake is a lot simpler. Well, I guess it's a lot simpler to me anyways. Werewolves have this thing called imprinting. That might sound strange, but all that means is that he finds his soulmate. The one person who he will love unconditionally for the rest of his life. That's me, by the way. So yeah, I was sixteen and a half when I met my soulmate. Now, I'm eighteen, and we've been planning a wedding. For like, in the future of course, not only is eighteen way too young for me to get married, but there is a bit of a problem going on in my life right now that is the reason I'm on the run.

I have a stalker. Or, had, I guess. Also a vampire. Name of Alexander. I call him Red-Eyes because when he first popped up and tried to kill me - long story - he wouldn't tell me his name and all I knew was that he had red eyes. At first I just referred to him as the red-eyed man, but that slowly developed into calling him just Red-Eyes. Nineteen months ago he put me into a coma sort of state where I was trapped in a dream. He meant to keep me there, I think, for as long as he could. I woke myself up with the sound of Jake's voice and haven't slept well since. Nightmares of my friends and boyfriend dying because of me haunt me. And Red-Eyes taunting face. Jake would wake me and I would be covered in a cold sweat, my hands shaking and my eyes staring at nothing and throat constricted so I couldn't talk. He would wrap his arms around me and hold me against his warm body and whisper assurances to me that it was a dream and it wasn't real, that I was okay, that he was okay. But it could be real because someone - Red-Eyes - was making me have these dreams. He was punishing me for running away and stopping him from finding me. I didn't know if it would ever stop.

The ceiling righted itself, the stain that looked like an outline of North America sliding into focus above me. I sat up and looked at the white screen in front of me, the cursor blinking at me like a threat. I narrowed my eyes at it, glaring like the petty being I was, before letting a curse slip from my mouth and slamming the laptop shut. I couldn't finish it. I didn't know the ending myself yet, what Red-Eyes wanted from me. How could I finish the story if I didn't know the ending? I mean sure, I could make one up, but if this story is supposed to be based on a real thing, I need the real ending. And I didn't have that yet.

"Stop punishing yourself and come lay with me," Jake's voice called from the couch behind me. I spun around in my chair to face the couch. The desk was set up against the wall in the living room that housed the small tv and the singular couch. The back of the couch faced me if I flipped around, giving me a view of the tv and the sports game that was on. I was pretty sure that Jake didn't like sports all that much, at least the games anyway. But his dad, Billy, watches every game and I think he feels closer to him knowing their watching the same game at the same time.

"I can't Jake, I've got to finish this." I told him.

"You just slammed the laptop shut. I think you're done." He tossed back.

"Jake," I whined.

"I agree with him," piped the voice of Simon from the second bedroom.

"I thought you were supposed to be on my side, Si?" I called to him, swiveling my chair to look at the closed door of the bedroom.

"Said who?" He asked.

I scowled and muttered, "well I did when we made friendship bracelets in second grade," as I slouched down further in my chair.

"That was ten years ago, Pip," he said.

"Stupid supposed-to-be mythical creatures and their super hearing," I said in annoyance. I was the only person that couldn't hear what was happening in the apartment below us or above us at any given time. Not that that was an advantage, per se, but sometimes I did wish that I wasn't the only one in this house who could be snuck up on.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Jake sit up on the couch and raise an eyebrow at me. I looked towards him and he gestured me over with his head and I acquiesced and pushed myself out of my chair and walked over to the couch. He scooted over so I would have room and I settled in next to the edge with one arm around my waist and the other cushioning my head. I didn't really understand the football game that he was watching, and I didn't really want to ask because I don't know how much help that would do me, but I watched the players run back and forth and the referee shouting rulings nonetheless. I was comfortable in Jake's arms and that made up for not knowing what the hell was happening on screen.

For a moment, Jake stiffened behind me and I wasn't sure if it was just a passing resident or something else until Simon left the bedroom. I leaned up on my elbow and saw him looking expectantly at the door where a backpack sat next to it against the wall. I knew at once who it was that was coming up the stairs, confirmed by the relaxing of Jake behind me as he adjusted his position so he could see the screen again. I sat up fully to help him out and watched the door as eagerly as Simon did. It had been only a week, but it felt like far too long since I'd last seen her.

The door opened and Bella stepped in, looking ethereal and gorgeous as every vampire did, her eyes blazing golden. A bag hung on her shoulder and when she caught sight of me she smiled brightly and held out a letter. I jumped up immediately and snatched it from her. My name was written in elegant cursive on the front and I had been waiting for this letter to come for a week. I stared at the writing on the front for a long time before turning it over to open it.

"Glad to see you too, Pipes." Bella said, pausing me in ripping open the envelope. I turned back towards her.

"Hey, Bells." I said, and gave her a hug. "I missed you."

"Alright, alright, open your letter." She said after hugging me back.

"I did though." I told her and she gave me another smile before disappearing to the kitchen to empty her bag.

I looked back at the envelope and after a second's hesitation, tore it open.

 _My dearest Piper,_

 _Oh how I have missed you dearly. I can't believe that you're going to be nineteen soon and I won't be there again to celebrate your birthday. I'll send along a present like I did last year, but I wish I could see your face when you opened it and give you a hug afterwards. Charlie isn't the best hugger, as you probably know well. You always did give the best hugs after all._

 _I got a call on Wednesday and you'll never guess who it was. Sean, that, and pardon my language, bastard. I was going to hang up but he begged me to hear him out and I wasn't below hanging up on a begging man. I could just see him groveling at my feet and well, definitely couldn't say no with that image in my head. Apparently he wants to get back together and swears to me that he's changed and will be better and that he misses me. I hung up. But not after calling him every name I could think of. How he responded to that, I can only imagine._

 _One day, I hope to see you again so I can hug you and talk to you in person. I have a special gift that I had wanted to give to you on your eighteenth birthday, but seeing as you weren't here, I decided to hold off until I got to see you again. I don't know when that will be, but it's something to think about and hope for. I'd tell you about it, but that's going to remain a secret. You'll just have to come see get it yourself if you want to know what it is. Although, I will tell you this; it was from your father. Before he disappeared, he gave it to me and told me to give it to you on your eighteenth birthday, not a second before. I've kept it hidden away all this time so I wasn't tempted. Your father was a good man, you know, and I know you've always wondered what happened to him. So have I. Unfortunately, some things are just destined to remain a secret forever._

 _On the topic of that wedding you're planning with Jacob, you better leave some planning to me. Can't have you doing it all by yourself, can we? Talk to him about the last name thing, see what he thinks. I like the idea of keeping the Swan name alive, but I think he'll want you to take his last name too. Maybe hyphenating would be a good idea. Well, you aren't getting married anytime soon, so you'll have time to think about it. On the topic of tracking down your father... We'll see when the wedding is closer than a few years in the future._

 _Loving your forever and always,_  
 _Your Mom_

A smile split across my face and I held the letter to my chest for a moment before pulling it back and reading it over again. And over again. And over again. And over again until Jake's hand appeared over the paper and forced me to look up at him. I could read the expression on his face effortlessly. Are you alright? And yeah, yeah I was actually. After I had sent a letter last month and posed the question that maybe we could find a way to correspond directly instead of through Edward's letters to Bella last month, we had been writing letters back and forth every month when Bella went home.

For the first six months, we had all travelled together. But Bella started getting overly maternal towards me and Jake and Simon, we decided that Simon and Bella could alternate each week going home to see their mates. This way, they could bring letters back and forth and I could communicate with my mom. We didn't say that was how we were doing it, but that was.

I was just glad to be able to talk to my mother.


End file.
